John Kettler

If you're desperate to totally destroy your equanimity, keep going. Ghastly seems inadequate as a description of these (gag, retch, hurl) fashions. The photo spread is on the Real Penguin page of FB. If you can believe it, the four pics visible aren't the most disturbing! Believe these are part of the Abomination line for Spring. Regards, John Kettler

Jeff Foxworthy would approve for sure. Regards, John Kettler

The story of Panfilov's 28 men was apparently a Party fabrication to keep morale up when Moscow was in grave jeopardy, but this 2016 crowd-funded depiction is nevertheless a well done war movie. The weaponry depicted is period correct, with the exception of never seeing infantry MG-34s in action. No idea why. That said, MP-38/40s seemed to correspond to the correct one per squad. Found this movie engrossing and gripping. Regards, John Kettler

Kingfish, Welcome back! Will you be sticking around, or is this a greet and run? Regards, John Kettler

In case you thought you had a handle on the various emotions, this should disabuse you of the notion. Spot reading sure did a number on me! Have to admire his industriousness, for this list is from countries all over the world. Sonder: The realization that each passerby has a life as vivid and complex as your own. Opia: The ambiguous intensity of Looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable. Monachopsis:The subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place. Énouement: The bittersweetness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self. Vellichor: The strange wistfulness of used bookshops. Rubatosis: The unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat. Kenopsia: The eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet. Mauerbauertraurigkeit: The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like. Jouska: A hypothetical conversation that you compulsively play out in your head. Chrysalism: The amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm. Vemödalen: The frustration of photographic something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist. Anecdoche: A conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening Ellipsism: A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out. Kuebiko: A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence. Lachesism: The desire to be struck by disaster – to survive a plane crash, or to lose everything in a fire. Exulansis: The tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it. Adronitis: Frustration with how long it takes to get to know someone. Rückkehrunruhe: The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness. Nodus Tollens:The realization that the plot of your life doesn’t make sense to you anymore. Onism: The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time. Liberosis: The desire to care less about things. Altschmerz: Weariness with the same old issues that you’ve always had – the same boring flaws and anxieties that you’ve been gnawing on for years. Occhiolism: The awareness of the smallness of your perspective. Source John Koenig, writer and creator of The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Am not much into pet pics, but this one was a must post. No further details on this battle technology, but notice the sniper minimization tactic used. Regards, John Kettler

Judging from various replies here, things I've read and the trailer, "White Tiger" absolutely sucked, but I just got through watching the 2 1/3 hour long Russian version (called "The Tank) with English subtitles and was both impressed and swept into the story. Got creepy at times. The Tiger 1 VISMOD was hugely impressive frontally, but suffered from the limits of the chassis otherwise in terms of shape. The film showed tank warfare in ways "Fury" couldn't touch and was the embodiment of Russian fatalism and mysticism, somehow coexisting with Communism. The atmosphere, terrain, the sets, uniforms and so much more felt and looked spot on, the camera work was great, and it was a real treat to be able to read the English subtitles, hear the Russians speaking Russia, the Germans speaking German and know enough of both to be able to broadly confirm that the foreign language dialogue was correct. Also correct was the Russian Designation of German tanks using "T" followed by a number. Can confirm this is correct because I read the exact same format in translated Russian documents discussing combating the German tanks in terms of lessons learned to be applied in the 1970s. Practically lost my mind over the simply astounding range and number of AFVs, alive and dead, which beggar description. That's before adding in artillery! Can't think of any war movie I've ever seen with so many AFVs of such sprawling diversity as to type, country of origin and when built. Those with weak stomachs or PTSD should stay away from this film, for the depiction of the horrors resulting from a tank being hit is unflinching, whether shown or talked about. There was one great tableau after another in the film, enough to make a bunch of award winning dioramas. This is a portrayal of war without romanticism, and it faithfully portrays all kinds of things in the Red Army that I know to be true. Especially like the highly mixed ethnicities of the crew. The tank duels were ridiculous (as crewed the Russian tank would've been a sitting duck in terms of ability to find targets), but watching the protagonist horse that tank around was fascinating, and I note that some ordnance issues were correctly depicted. There was a tank misidentification, and ammo used in the duel was wrong, too, but we're talking an error rate of low percentage relative to the outrageous and numerous ones typically seen in US war movies for decades. The ending was great and oh so Russian. Highly recommned hitting the link and watching the movie in its proper form. Regards, John Kettler

absolutmauser, This is exactly the site I sought. Many thanks, and not just from me! Regards, John Kettler

If it helps anyone recall the info I seek, one of the many revelations on his site was that the real demise of Grabner's force wasn't from PIAT fire but from a pair of 6 Pounders. Another thing I recall was he had extensive coverage of the Luftwaffe ground troops and various small armored formations. believe the site was called something like The Arnhem Site, but using that term came up bust. Regards, John Kettler

There was/is a guy with a superb Arnhem only site, but I can't find it. Believe he published at lest one book, too. Does anyone recall the site name or URL? While on my failed search, I came across this one, which is full of information, including documents, letters and beautiful color side views of the armor used. Smaller weapons are covered, too. https://www.marketgarden.com/2010/UK/main.html Regards, John Kettler

IanL, Many thanks for this! Didn't all of them used to be rostered under Downloads or maybe Support? Regards, John Kettler

Was going to give a CMRT link to a CoC player and couldn't find ANY Demos at all to share. They used to be easy to find. Did I miss something? Thanks! Regards, John Kettler

This will delight all of you with an interest in the Medieval period, looking at it from the not at all exclusively military perspective of knights. Got into this via a gaming colleague who put up one from the series dealing with what a knight ate. Guarantee it'll reframe your perspectives on the food of the period, especially if you watch the others covering the food from higher and lower than that. Am now starting through the series from the top. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMjlDOf0UO9wSijFqPE9wBw Regards, John Kettler

If you'd like to see a real pirate era naval gun, here's a superb example. Unfortunately, the museum failed to list the weight of the shot in its detailed description--along with the country! Note the metal wheels of the period. Later designs in the 18th and early 19th Centuriy used wooden wheels. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/116158/naval-gun-with-carriage Regards, John Kettler

Here's a bit of a shocker, but a reminder of how dangerous old UXO can be. Apparently, it doesn't need provoking in order to lash out. This will probably be beneficial to a number of firms which specialize in determining where UXB fell, based on gaps in the BDA pattern. Sobering. Had this occurred in any number of places, there could've been a disaster. Back in California over a decade ago a 2000 pound WW II bomb was found when making a road cut near Mount Saint Mary College, forcing the temporary evacuation of everyone there. Memory's hazy, so I don't recall whether the area used to be a bombing range or what. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/crater-in-german-field-apparently-caused-by-wwii-bomb/ar-AADlxsf?ocid=sf Regards, John Kettler

This was a finalist in a big deal nature photography competition, but I have another interpretation. The new extreme low altitude air defense system is having teething problems. Clearly, the IFF still needs work, and discriminating military from civilian traffic simply isn't working at all. Regards, John Kettler

Guys, Waterloo (1970) is on YT, but it's blurry on a 4K screen, so you may need to tweak your display res. On a wildly different note, I found a cute pet video which is also weird, funny and is a living science lesson. Regards, John Kettler

After discovering Engines of the Red Army had a blog, I learned it has a sister site, too. Engines of the Wehrmacht. It's way behind the former as far as being well fleshed, but the site owner has taken some steps to begin to change that. The first has a new button (Campaigns) added, and it's full of good stuff, such as this helpful set of charts from multiple sources on LL shipments of AFVs and softskins to the SU. Regards, John Kettler

You're most welcome. Some of the AFV icons on Red God of War provide significant info on units using the particular AFV. For example, the M10 GMC on the Easter Front icon is most informative, but others have little more than the rendering of the vehicle and sometimes attached weapons. Several sites reference Baryatinsky, "Lend-Lease tanks in Battle," but so far, I can't find it. Suspect it's Russian language. Mikhail Baryatinskiy is an established AFV writer and has done a T-80 book for Ian Allen, Ltd. Also, though I've not read it, the proloific armor expert Steve Zaloga has written Soviet Lend-Lease Tanks of World War 2. Regards, John Kettler

Lille Fiskerby, There has been considerable discussion of LL AFVs over the years, both in CMx1's CMBB Forum and here on CMRT. Suggest you Google search those parts of BFC's site using "Lend_Lease" and "Lend Lease" as search terms. HSU Dmitry Loza spent almost his entire military career in LL tanks, including the Matilda II. Some of that is covered in his excellent Defending the Soviet Motherland, which is considerably cheaper than his Sherman book. HyperWar has the master list of what was sent, and we have, in one of the threads I mentioned, systematically run down what was shipped vs. what got there. GPW armor expert (contributed big time to CMBB) Valera Potapov used to run a terrific site called Russian Battlefield, but it appears extinct. Happily, Red God of War, which is useful, survives. The link covers all foreign AFVs supplied to the SU under LL. Tank Archives is pure gold on your topic, especially Lend-Lease Trade-ins. The link has a string of posts which came up on LL. There used to be a huge site called Kursk Day By Day which showed the AFV OOB and the strength returns as the battle progressed. Maybe the Internet Wayback Machine could help. Regards, John Kettler

Stalin promised his allies a great offensive to take the pressure off their recently arrived, bogged down troops in Normandy. Though there was considerable doubt he would deliver, he did, 75 years ago to the day,when the Army Group Center shattering OPERATION BAGRATION began. The link has a maps showing the scope of the operation and great summaries of the key points regarding it. Regards, John Kettler

Found this juicy GPW site (Russian Federation MoD sponsored). Unfortunately, the English translation function doesn't work! Even so, it's awash with photos, maps, docs, etc. https://pamyat-naroda.ru/ This also juicy one is mostly Russian. Why mostly? The translate button covers home page and the instructions for the search functions, but not one of the documents is translated. Also, to name search, as best I call tell, you'll need to make your entry in Russian. http://podvignaroda.ru/?#tab=navHome Here's but one thing I found by simply following links from the first page. It alone has 515 digital photos of GPW original typed, carbon copy and mimeoed Red Army documents from 1941. http://podvignaroda.ru/?#id=2000743&tab=navDetailDocument Regards, John Kettler

Here is August 7, 1944 LIFE magazine. Normandy hedgerow fighting is in an article on page 18. There's a pic of a GI in a heavily protected ex-German dugout. He's wearing cammies! https://books.google.com/books?id=-04EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false The August 14, 1944 edition covers the Normandy breakout and has some marvelous pictures. Recommend zooming out so you can see the pics at original size. https://books.google.com/books?id=9VAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA19&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false The August 21, 1944 edition has a bunch of stuff on Normandy fighting, but the real gem is the story of the Navy Radioman 1C who refused to surrender when Guam fell to the Japanese and hid out for 2 years, setting the tone for the Japanese soldier who did the same for 40 years when the island was recaptured. https://books.google.com/books?id=9lAEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Regards, John Kettler

Here's what the map looks like as one piece. This far better conveys what a behemoth it is. Hope the insights from the book were factored in, for the standard canon penned by Siborne is demonstrably inaccurate as to certain high profile units, locations and accomplishments., but maybe the map isn't. https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_650397_en.html?fbclid=IwAR1bVapkD3_jAfnZ8SCIwzH8O-u_XaGxXHjSscrqzdxQZ-BKbGfLxMrYNqI&utm_source=Warlord+Games+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ac0791b8c2-warlord_games_wednesday_news-12_06_2019&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b7e928b4ed-ac0791b8c2-132782593&mc_cid=ac0791b8c2&mc_eid=23292e9105 https://www.amazon.com/Waterloo-Perspectives-Great-Battle-Reappraised/dp/0471052256/ref=sr_1_56?keywords=waterloo&qid=1561062893&s=books&sr=1-56 Regards, John Kettler

Ground level doesn't properly convey how gargantuan the battle area really is, but this will. Daresay there's scarcely a military academy on the planet with a wargame table of such vast magnitude. The tables are long enough and wide to use as runways for RC aircraft models. What an amazing dad, and oh, the happy memories his daughter will have forever! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7159339/Six-year-old-girl-shrieks-Im-flying-flies-model-dragon-father.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed This is both insane and stupid--a truly dangerous mix. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7160787/Is-death-Venice-Colossal-cruise-ships-towering-St-Marks-Square.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed Regards, John Kettler

How about a gigantic Waterloo game using minis, say, 22,000? This event is under discussions with Guinness as the largest game ever played with miniatures.It's so huge it's on four gigantic game tables separated by aisles! Rules are Black Powder. Have no idea why, but the videos have minuscule views and some not even a single comment. Regards, John Kettler